A
beautiful melody flowed throughout through the wooden cottage as the
graceful Mizuki darted throughout her home in a futile effort to make
spring cleaning as easy as possible. The stove flame burned intensely
as the kettle of tea begun to whistle, though rather irritating to
the ears, Mizuki had much more to worry about then a simple noise.
Swinging her broom like a samurai, she effortlessly had her home
shining like a new gem in no time at all. Sliding into the kitchen,
Mizuki lifted the kettle with her free hand and sat it on the
counter, simultaneously dusting off her counter. She slipped out of
the kitchen briefly to put her broom and duster away, and returned
for a moment of serenity with her tea. Mizuki leaned up against her
open door and sipped at her tea, looking off into the distance.

Arisu
laughed with delight as she fell backwards onto the fresh spring
grass and rolled around happily. Her sunflower blond hair bounced as
she jumped up, brushing off the stems of grass from her new brown and
white dress that her mother had newly sewn. Her blue eyes surveyed
the area with the highest of intent, she loved exploring, but right
now, she was on the hunt for something. Arisu fell to the ground and
began to crawl, slowly the grass grew thicker, and taller, and the
ground became softer. She sat up on her knees and peeked over the
grass, it was a little pond that seemed to have been sprouted off by
the nearby river, which flowed down from the nearby mountains. Of
course, Arisu didn't care about that, she was adamant about finding
her one special thing.

Mizuki
sighed lovingly as she looked at her window into the mass of clouds
that soared across the brilliantly azure sky. It was a beautiful day,
especially to be outside, and with her cup of tea, Mizuki whisked
herself through her home and out the front door. A slight breeze blew
by, rustling a nearby tree which responded in the form of a red bird,
which flew around in the sky, singing a beautiful song, as if in
responding to Mizuki's hymn earlier. A few moments passed with the
beauty flying before he dove back into his home, obviously awaking
the chicks, which chirped in disappointment that their father had yet
to bring back their lunch. This reminded Mizuki of her duties as
well, "Arisu!" She called out into the distance, "Arisu!"

The
pond sat quietly as Arisu glared into it with the deepest of intent.
For a moment, nothing happened, but Arisu was patient. Suddenly a
tiny turtle crawled out of the brush, and walked into the water.
Arisu squealed with delight as he made tiny circles as he swam. Arisu
smiled happily, even though he didn't know it, the turtle was
Arisu's second favorite thing in the world...maybe third, her mom,
Mizuki was first, then maybe the nighttime...but Arisu always
got in trouble when she went out at night. The funny thing was that,
she didn't know why Mizuki always got so mad! "Arisu!" Mizuki's
voice chimed in her head, but she waved it off thinking she made it
up in her head, "Arisu!" the voice called again, maybe Mizuki
really was calling her. Arisu got up; she was disappointed to leave
her turtle (which she aptly named Kame).

Mizuki
loved sitting in the sunlight, it always felt so warm and pleasant on
her skin. But she could never sit in it for long, for she was very
pale and would burn easily; however, the paleness was more then just
a biological trait, she was actually very sick, and would pass out
sometimes if it was too hot. She worried Arisu a lot of the time, but
she thought it was equally granted for her sneaking out at night and
worrying her, so she paid no mind. Mizuki tapped her foot
rhythmically, Arisu was always late when she was called, but she
never would wander too far, and Mizuki never wondered where Arisu
went either, just always trusted her. Always a good thing, she
supposed. Scanning the horizon, Mizuki saw a bit of yellow appear and
disappear, Arisu was returning! Mizuki stood up and smiled, watching
as Arisu slowly came running into view.

Mizuki
sighed happily knowing that Arisu was safe, she always thought of
Arisu as her real daughter, though she truly wasn't. Arisu's
parents had passed away a little while after she was born, and
Mizuki's daughter and husband had as well, around the same time. In
such a terrible time, the slightest kindness proved to be the
greatest gift in the world; Arisu needed love and Mizuki needed
someone to love. Mizuki was only in her early twenties, but she
already had matured so greatly, unlike her selfish adolescence, she
had really grown up. Arisu, who was nearly halfway home by now,
seemed to be greatly effected by Mizuki's kindness and
selflessness, and she was already growing up to be a wonderful girl,
Mizuki knew that she'd be an amazing woman one day.

A
sharp whistling sound pierced through the air, shooting through space
and time. Arisu stopped abruptly, shaking at the horrid sound; she
looked up to her mother in the distance and smiled brightly once
more. She leapt forward and continued running, Mizuki took a few
steps away from her home, her arms open, prepared to embrace Arisu
lovingly. The birds had stopped chirping and singing, but Mizuki paid
no mind, to her, time was frozen in this moment of bliss...ignorant
bliss...of serenity and compassion for all life. Mizuki closed her
eyes as she waited for Arisu's body to press up against her tightly
in a loving squeeze. Another whistling sound went off and Arisu
stopped dead in her tracks.

In
terms of physically hearing something, Arisu would have gone deaf,
but the pure shock was more then enough to protect her. An oblivious
serenity coated Arisu like a blanket, as she watched in shocking
horror while her home, the place she grew up in, where she
lived...was engulfed in the flames of an atomic explosion. To her
explicit discontent, Arisu was subjugated to watching Mizuki be torn
apart by the explosion, the sickening sound of her bones snapping as
her limbs were torn from her body, blood flying across the sky like
sickened birds of prey. Arisu screamed as she was blown backwards off
her feet, discarded blood plowed over her like snow in a blizzard,
and she hit the ground hard, ricocheting into the air and rolled to a
stop. She groaned, her body throbbing, and as she lifted her head
slightly, she saw Kame inch towards her. "K...a...me..." She
moaned, but it wasn't Kame, it was her mother's decapitated head.

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